Building Skills for the 2014 GED

Agenda:Our studentsWritingUsing SourcesHeadline ActivityAuthor and ContextSummary and ResponseReferring to SourcesPro-Con Essays

Addressing Learning Disabilities

• Present information in small, manageable steps• Use routine and structure in lessons• Provide frequent reinforcement and feedback• Teach concretely, give real life examples• Restate information in a variety of ways with a

variety of vocabulary• Prepare student for changes in routine

Writing• Writing activities can start with general prompts to build basic

mechanics of:• Sentence structure• Paragraph structure• Essay structure• Have students write narratives, descriptions or comparison

essays to build skills

Writing• Ideas for basic writing assignments:• Scar story: write about an event that left an emotional scar• Describe your favorite: restaurant, vacation, park etc.• Comparing: sales pitch for a car, types of TV shows, types of foods

Writing• Once your student has grasped basic skills move into using

sources.

Using Sources• Students need to be able to use academic sources both to

pass the GED and especially to be prepared for post-secondary work.

Finding Sources • Check for articles and resources at your center• Google News• Pro-Con• Scholar.google.com

Headline Activity• Have students read an article with the headline missing.• Have them provide their own headline/share and discuss• Have them provide three or four bullet points gleaned from

the article that support their choice of headline

Context: who is the author?• Have students read article and then research the author• Google author• Youtube search for author• Why did the author write the article?• What is purpose of the article?

Summary/Response• Have the students write a brief, two paragraph summary

including main points and support for an article• Have students respond to the article with guided questions:• What stayed with you?• What did you already know?• What did you learn?• (questions specific to article)

Referring to Sources• Have your students practice referring to their sources in

summary• Move to having them write opinion essays answering a

question implicit in an article while referring to the source• Move to having them tackle the practice extended response

exercises in the workbooks

Pro-Con.org another resource for extended response practice• Practice having your students read from the procon.org

website and develop persuasive essays for their point of view while referring to the articles they read

Thank You• Bob Daniels• Coordinator • LIU#12 Adams County Literacy Council• rwdaniels@iu12.org/717-479-7032